The Grandma Chronicles: Curtains for Dinner

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17th century lace fragment from Italy, Honolul...

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I only knew her as GRANDMA.

But she had a life before I ever met her…as an obedient daughter, loving sister, impressionable girl, new bride and mother of five. 

She was a woman of character and strength.  She was ahead of her time in many ways and I thought she was an angel with super-powers.  But “Curtains for Dinner” shows that she was a normal human being, just like any of us…and sometimes she made questionable choices.

As a young woman, my grandmother lived in an era where most wives stayed home and the husband went to work and controlled the family finances.  Every week, she would be given a certain amount of money for the household expenses…whatever her husband determined would be enough…if she was a frugal homemaker.   And, just like today, it was hard to make the money stretch to buy the staples she needed.  One day, on her way to the butcher shop to buy meat for dinner, my grandmother passed a fabric store.  Hanging in the store window was the most beautiful piece of lace material and my grandmother knew she had to have it for her kitchen window…to help make her house a more beautiful home.  Opening the door, she entered a world of colors and textures…but her eyes were only on the lace in the window.  A small scrap of paper pinned to the fabric displayed the cost…25 cents.  Reaching her hand into the neckline of her dress, she unpinned the folded handkerchief that held her precious household money.  Carefully she opened the scrap of fabric and looked at its contents…only 50 cents, the amount needed to purchase enough meat for dinner that night.  What should she do?  How could she pass up that beautiful piece of lace?  But what would she do about dinner?

Making her decision, she took one of the quarters, approached the store clerk and indicated her choice.  Emerging from the fabric store, the parcel of lace clutched tightly in her hands, my grandmother continued down the street to the butcher’s shop.  Now she only had enough money for half as much meat.  Purchasing the meat, she watched as the butcher wrapped it…what a tiny package it made! 

Sitting down to dinner in the kitchen with the new lace curtains fluttering in the breeze, her husband noticed that there was only one place set.  “Aren’t you eating, my dear.” he asked.   “Oh no,” my grandmother replied.  “I was so hungry, I ate my portion earlier.”

My grandmother might have gone to bed with her stomach a little empty…but her desire to beautify her home was well-satisfied.

Did she make the right choice?  What would you have done?

Stop by tomorrow for the last installment of The Grandma Chronicles: Where Are the Side-Mirrors on the New Car?  I’ll also share a recipe, from my new parenting book. for apple cake just like the one I used to make with her those long-ago Sunday mornings.

16 thoughts on “The Grandma Chronicles: Curtains for Dinner”

    • So sorry I am just replying to your comment…Congrats on your winning the Stylish Blogger Award!
      And thank you so much for your confidence in my posts…I’m happy someone is reading them and finding them of value.
      And now that you’ve passed it on it me (and others), do I follow exactly what you did…link back to you, list 7 things about myself, etc.? And do I pass it along?
      And is there a place on my blog I would post that?

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  2. She absolutely made the right choice and I would do same. The lace probably gave her many years of good memories and joy… Hey, we can go hungry a little for something beautiful in our surroundings…
    I do hope she had a little bite to eat that night. This is a beautiful story and it inspired me to write a little tribute to one of my grannies on my other blog… Such a beautiful story….
    The snowstorm from yesterday gave us a lot of internet problems and so I fell behind on my daily rounds… We lost power through periodic surges and it messed our phones and internet up a bit. Thankfully, we didn’t lose our heat or lights. Hope all is well where you are 🙂
    Eliz

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    • Thank you so much, Eliz. When I started writing the first little “grandma” story, I thought that would be it, but as I finished it, another story popped into my mind that I felt I had to share. It’s happened again and again. She was a very special lady…and yes, I am very sure she had something to eat…probably the veggies that were the side dish…more healthful than the meat anyway. 🙂

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  3. I love this post. I would have purchased the curtains instead of the meat as well and then made up some story like your Granmother did. Very clever!

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  6. What a great story!!! I love that.. the sacrifice she made to beautify her home.. and so noble and dignified to say that she already ate.. beautiful story 🙂
    Thanks for coming by to check out my blog!

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    • I appreciate your comment so very much. I think one of the things that made my grandmother so special, was that I never heard her complain…she was an extremely positive person and very matter-of-fact about life. Hopefully, she passed some of that along to me. 🙂

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